Tuesday, March 25, 2003Volume 3, Issue 4
Materials Day at Penn State
Materials Research Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
April 15, 2003
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The HUB-Robeson, Alumni Hall
University Park
Don't miss an opportunity to:
- communicate and build collaborative relationships with your materials colleagues about your research
- update our graduate students about resources on campus for their research, to broaden their appreciation of materials research, and to prepare them to be post-graduate disciples for "Materials at Penn State"
- update Industry and Government about activities in materials research - there will be more than 50 industrial representatives and several large companies are sending teams to further develop collaborative opportunities with Penn State
- view more than 70 posters and
- honor our students and post-doctoral researchers for outstanding contributions in materials
REMINDER: We are still encouraging faculty to submit posters under the following themes:
- electronic/photonic materials and devices
- materials processing and manufacture
- biomaterials and medical devices
- nanofabrication and MEMS
- fuel cells and other energy technologies
- chemical- and bio-sensors
- computer simulation and modeling
- structural materials/composites
- materials characterization
Poster Due Date has been extended until March 28th
For more information go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/Events/materialsday
MRI Faculty Spotlight
Aman Haque (Assistant Professor of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering) works at the boundary of several exciting fields including MEMS, sensors, nanofabrication and nanoscale behavior of materials. Haque (pronounced "Hawk") arrived in January from the University of Illinois, a December 2002 graduate in mechanical engineering. His doctoral research involved investigation of length scale effects on mechanical properties of nanoscale thin films. Using MEMS fabrication techniques he was able to pattern intricate force-displacement devices onto silicon wafers then etch away the silicon leaving free standing test structures that were thin enough (20-200 nm) to perform quantitative in situ tensile tests inside a TEM and an SEM.
For the full story go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/articles/amanhaque/
MRI Faculty Advisory Board Meeting Report
Taylor Lecture Series
Gary Messing announced the Materials Science and Engineering Department's Taylor Lecture Series that will take place September 4 -5, 2003 in the HUB Auditorium, Pennsylvania State University,and will feature Professor Charles M. Lieber, Harvard University as well as other invited industry and faculty representatives.
Director's Message
Carlo reported on a recent Nano-Commission meeting. It was decided to delay the planned nanofab expansion at the MRI Building, scheduled for this spring, until approximately January 2004. During the ensuing period, the Nano-Commission will collect data and propose an expansion plan that will provide for a long term road-map to expand the nanofab user facilities and to focus the MRI Building on Nanoscale Science and Technology, in general, including nanofabrication, nanocharacterization, nanomanufacturing and related interdisciplinary research programs. Carlo also noted that the nanofab, and its affiliation with NNUN and its successful NMT program, have brought valuable and unique visibility to PSU. Although there will necessarily be nano-research activities all over campus, everyone is encouraged to use and promote the nanofab. The MRI Executive committee is currently considering how to best organize, administer and share the governance of user facilities and related resources for Nanoscale Science and Technology at PSU.
There are now five co-funding requests under consideration by the MRI Executive Committee - 2 in MSE (which will be discussed at the next Board meeting) and 3 committed to the recently submitted NSF NSEC (which represent one position each for the colleges of Science, Engineering, and Earth and Mineral Sciences).
Presentations
Judith Todd discussed "Materials and Related Research in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics. She indicated that all of her faculty are involved with materials, strength in mechanical behavior and mechanics. The complete presentation can be found on the web site
www.mri.psu.edu/ematerials/v03i04/ESM.pdf
John Andresen, filling in for Harold Schobert, discussed "Materials and Related Research in the Energy Institute" - The Energy Institute essentially deals with energy research from cradle to grave. They are looking for expertise in developing materials for energy needs. An example is reducing sulfur through use of catalyst materials. Their Institute funds carbon-related research projects through a DOE contract that are directed by their industrial partners; cost share is required on all projects. There is $280,000 available May 03 and $800,000 available in October 03. Proposal submission information is on the EI web site www.energy.psu.edu/cpcpc
The complete presentation can be found at:
www.mri.psu.edu/ematerials/v03i04/EI.pdf
Materials Seminars
Wednesday, April 2, 3:35 PM
114 EE&S Bldg
Fuel Processing for Hydrogen Production and Fuel Cell Applications
Chunshan Song, Energy and Geo_Environmental Engineering
Wednesday, April 9, 10:00 AM
140 Fenske Laboratory
Engineering the Chemistry of Vapor Deposition
Karen K. Gleason, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Wednesday, April 9, 3:35 PM
114 EE&S Bldg
Bioengineering with Kinesin Molecular Motors and their Microtubule Tracks
Will Hancock, Department of Bioengineering
Funding Opportunities
Army: Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate: CdZnTe Substrates
